Donkey Kong 3 is the third Donkey Kong arcade game. It never became as popular as the earlier Donkey Kong titles, possibly due to the fact that it is more of a shooting game, compared to the original platformers. Another major difference between Donkey Kong 3 and the earlier games is that the main character is not Mario, but rather Stanley. The game was later referenced as a microgame in both WarioWare: Twisted! and WarioWare: Touched!.

Donkey Kong breaks into Stanley's greenhouse and goes to hang in the rafters where he stirs up nests of bugs, which will destroy Stanley's flowers in revenge. Armed with a can of fly spray, Stanley must destroy the bees and chase Donkey Kong away before he eats all five of his vegetables.

The game is very simplistic, requiring the player to gather points as the object rather than have any specific long-term goal in mind. There are three rounds, and once the player completes all three, they return to the first. Throughout the levels are scattered various enemies: Buzzbees, Beespies, Queen Buzzbees which shatter into deadly pieces when destroyed, Buttiflies, Beebombs, Vine Eaters, and Creepies. The bees attempt to steal Stanley's flowers, and the bees must be destroyed before reaching the plants. Donkey Kong himself hangs from two vines at the top of the screen. Spraying him drives him upwards and eventually off the screen to win the level. In the arcade version, defeating him in the third stage causes his head to be pushed into a beehive. Stanley automatically moves out of his way as Donkey Kong falls, where the beehive splits in half. He becomes stunned, and Stanley does a victory dance.[1] In the NES version, the beehive falls on his head, but the rest of the cutscene is absent.[2]

The second stage never appears in the first round. The third stage directly follows the first, but the second stage is included in all rounds following the first.

HOW TO PLAY
Spray repeatedly to force Donkey Kong up to the top of the vines and zap the bees.

A power spray can is attached to the vine. Spray Donkey Kong to where the power spray can is attached and it will drop to where Stanley can reach it. Use it when you are in trouble and need to fight back.

The bees come to get the flowers at the bottom of the screen. Zap them before they return to their hive.

The round ends when Donkey Kong is successfully defeated or all the bees are eliminated.

Creepy the snake will crawl down from the palm trees to attack. Its movement is slow, but it can quickly revive after being sprayed. Chase the "Creepies" back into the trees, and knock out the ones on the floor. You can safely walk past unconscious "Creepies."

BEE-WARE! Each time you collide with a creepy, get stung by a bee, are hit with a stinger, or are hit by a coconut thrown by Donkey Kong, you lose a life. You will also lose a life if the timer runs down to zero or Donkey Kong drops to the floor.

Tips
The key to success is to fire the spray cans as fast as possible at Donkey Kong while avoiding various enemies.

Remember to jump closer to Donkey Kong to get a better shot at him.

In the second round, be sure not to stun all of the "Creepies" directly in front of Donkey Kong. It will make it much more difficult to hit him.

Remember, when attacking the Queen Buzzbies, it takes two shots to knock them out. Upon defeat they will shoot their stingers in four different directions. Directly below them is the ideal place to be.